LALIA PURPURATA BLENHEIMENSE. 
[Pirate 346.] 
Native of Southern Brazil. 
Epiphytal. Pseudobulbs stout, oblong fusiform, somewhat compressed, from one 
foot to two feet high, becoming ribbed with age, in the young state smooth, and 
clothed with large membraneous sheaths. Leaves solitary, erect, persistent, narrowly 
oblong, emarginate, thick and coriaceous in texture, rich deep green on the upper 
side, slightly paler beneath. Peduncle three to five-flowered, proceeding from a 
terminal somewhat oblong foliaceous spathe. Sepals linear-lanceolate, acute, of a 
uniform rosy blush, distinctly streaked with deep rosy purple; petals broader than 
the sepals, and nearly flat, ovate-oblong, obtuse and crisp at the edges, deep rose- 
purple, streaked and veined with dark purple; lip three-lobed, the lateral lobes 
small and very obscure, the basal portion rolled round the short column; the 
anterior lobe large and spreading, semi-ovate, crisp at the edge, wholly of a deep 
rose, veined with intense dark purple, the throat being rich yellow, streaked with 
deep purple. Column shorter than the lip. Pollen masses, 8. 
L&LIA PURPURATA BLENHEIMENSE, Hort. 
There appears to be some difference of opinion as to whom we are indebted 
for the introduction of this fine species. One authority asserts that it was first 
Introduced to cultivation by Mr. Brys, of Bornhem, in Holland, and that it was 
named Lelia Brysiana, in compliment to him; and there is a figure of a plant 
under that name in L’Illustration Horticole for 1857, t. 184. Unfortunately, 
the plant there portrayed is not a form of the present species at all, but a variety 
of L, elegans rather, though there certainly used to be, some years ago, a form of 
Lalia purpurata grown in English gardens, under the name of L. Brysiana, which 
was distinguished from L. purpurata by its deep rose-coloured sepals and petals, 
and very dark lip. Another authority claims that the plant was first discovered 
by Frangois Devos, and sent to the nursery of M. Verschaffelt, in Belgium. The 
: Plant is a native of the province of St. Catherine, in Southern Brazil, and was 
. Mtroduced in a living state in the year 1847. It was first flowered in this 
sountry by the Messrs. Backhouse and Son, of York, and was exhibited by them 
at one of the garden meetings of the Horticultural Society, held at Chiswick. For 
some years this was a rare plant in English collections, but latterly it has been 
‘ent home in large quantities by the numerous collectors now employed to search 
almost every spot in the tropical world for horticultural novelties. Many splendid 
eee have appeared amongst the different importations, and the one whose 
portrait we here introduce to our subscribers is most beautiful and distinct, and 1s 
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